voter fraud

A mathematician at Wichita State University who wanted to check the accuracy of some Kansas voting machines after finding odd patterns in election returns is finding out how difficult it can be to get government officials to turn over public documents.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers are urging a federal appeals court to overturn a decision by U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren. They say it will limit the authority of Congress to regulate federal elections.

They made a friend-of-the-court filing last week at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...in a lawsuit filed by Kansas and Arizona to force federal elections officials to let those states impose their proof-of-citizenship requirements on federal voter registration forms used by residents of their states.

Kansas and Arizona say they have a sovereign right to require proof of citizenship for voting residents of their states, even for federal elections.

The two states urged the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to lift the emergency stay it issued last week.

The appeals court had halted a ruling from U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren, whose ruling required the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to modify its federal voter registration form for Kansas and Arizona residents.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Wichita refused stay his order for federal election officials to immediately enforce Kansas and Arizona laws requiring new voters to document their U.S. citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren denied the requests from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and voting rights groups to stay his ruling while the case goes to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Melgren ordered the commission to proceed without delay on his March directive to immediately modify its national voter registration form.

Several Arizona groups want to join a lawsuit opposing efforts by Kansas and Arizona to force a federal agency to help the states' enforce their proof-of-citizenship rules for new voters.

A motion to intervene was filed Wednesday in federal court in Wichita by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, the Arizona Advocacy Network, League of United Latin American Citizens of Arizona and Arizona state Senator Steve Gallardo.